Thursday, February 28, 2013

A Fun February

Jackson's Hospital Stay


 Dressed and ready to go home!!
 Best friends reunited!
Jackson and I stayed in the hospital for the first couple days of the month and we were happy to return home to our loves. Everyone was excited to have Jackson home again! It took Jackson quite some time to get back on his schedule and be his "normal" self again but we are thankful to say he is healthy now!

Bible Study Fellowship
We are back in BSF! Hooray! We were in BSF for about a month after Jackson was born but took some time off to get on a better schedule with our new babe and settle into our new home. We are happy to be back in our favorite Bible study!

Girl Scouts
Jenni is enjoying her adventures in Girl Scouts and the cookie sale continued through the month. Jenni had fun working two cookie booths with her troop. And Joshua enjoyed buying a box of cookies from Jenni...and riding the carousel. :)

Valentine's Day

 Eric surprised Jenni with her favorite flowers - pink roses. Jenni thinks roses are the most beautiful flower ever.

 A sweet day with our loves.

Winter Basketball - Jenni
Jenni working on a trick
Scoring at practice
Scoring at her game
Jenni on defense



Little brother gave Jenni a thumbs down...
And then said, "Me just joking, Jenni!" and gave her a big hug.



Brothers holding hands during the game!
Sweet Jackson James is a delight!
 Jenni continues to enjoy basketball. She has fun rebounding the ball and shooting.

Winter Basketball - Joshua

 Joshua enjoys being part of his basketball team and enjoys practices but is not a fan of the actual games.

Joshua's End of Season Party



Joshua completed the season with the Lil' Mavs and enjoyed a pizza party with cake and trophies!

Joshua's Bunk Beds
 Climbing the stairs while the furniture was being delivered.
We have been busy filling our house with furniture over the past few months. On this month's delivery truck was one of our favorite things...Joshua's bunk beds! We LOVE them. Little boys + bunk beds = wonderful memories! Bunk beds are no fun to make daily but the happiness from this little boy makes it worth it! Eric has wanted the boys to have bunk beds (with a twin on top and full on bottom) to make "camp-outs" (as they like to call them) easier. Needless to say, Joshua and Eric have had several boy nights in the bunk beds and they are looking forward to the day Jackson gets to join! Precious!

Our School Room

  My goal was to have the school room completed in January/February and I am happy to say that it is all set up, organized and colorful! We have been doing school work at the kitchen bar and table for the past several months and were excited to move into our school room. Although our room will always be changing (bulletin boards, etc.) we are happy to have the main things done. I'll be sharing a tour of our classroom at some point. It has become one of my favorite rooms!

Sweet Snapshots

 Backseat secret agents



 Looking like a "medium-sized Eric" :)

 First set of McQueen pjs!

 
 

 

 

Overheard
Jenni: "Girls stick together. Like two pieces of bread. No one can take us apart." :)

Joshua: "Momma, wanna hear a joke?
             How chicken cross the road?
             Look both ways.
             Cars coming?
             No!" :)

Jenni to Joshua: "You look like a medium-sized Eric."

After Bible study...
Joshua to Jenni: "Did you learn to trust God too, Jenni?"

An Update on Jenni
Jenni is having a blast in basketball. Her coach is awesome and Jenni has made a lot of new friends. Her skills have improved drastically over the past few weeks and so has her confidence in the sport. Jenni's highlight of the month is being back in BSF and seeing her teachers and friends weekly! She loves that she is learning the same thing as me and her little brothers.

An Update on Joshua
Joshua has become even more "adventurous" this month. He had fun painting the school room and play room upstairs while I was downstairs cleaning and feeding Jackson. I have also found him a few times locked inside the bathroom upstairs washing his hands, getting drinks of water from the sink and having all kinds of fun. Joshua turned three last month so we have officially begun his preschool. He is absolutely thrilled to be in preschool. He loves doing his school work and is very excited to be homeschooled. He is a very smart little boy and I am thoroughly enjoying (and staying quite busy) teaching two littles! Joshua is also thrilled to be back at BSF.

An Update on Jackson
Jackson has had a rough month with double ear infections, multiple rounds of double eye infections, wheezing, asthma, and overall sickness. So this month we bought our little babe a new swing - one that can go back and forth and side to side. Life saver!! Baby boy isn't a fan of swinging back and forth but quite enjoys going side to side which led to my first free hour of Jackson calmly being on his own. Success! Jackson has transitioned to sleeping in a crib during nap time and for his first two to three hour stretch of sleep at night. When he's in his crib he scoots all the way up to the corner so his face is nestled in. Very sweet. He has also switched from sleeping on his side to sleeping on his tummy. Also very sweet. He is still such a happy baby and we are thankful for his sweet smiles! And Jackson makes the third J to be happy to be back at BSF. He gets good reports from the baby room - he enjoys listening to the Bible story, listening to the songs, and enjoys the cuddles from his teachers. Such a sweet babe.

Monday, February 18, 2013

"Cause Me a Boy"

 Joshua's best excuse to date..."cause me a boy." Whenever I ask Joshua why he does something and he can't think of an answer, he falls back to his default, "'cause I a boy." Love. I was downstairs cleaning when I heard water running upstairs. I go upstairs to find the door locked and Joshua inside the bathroom playing. Today has been an eventful day with locking doors (multiple times) and getting into paint and other mischief.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Jackson's Hospital Stay

 Resting in the ER
Jenni's drawing of Jackson in the ER. She wrote his name and then drew a tiny baby on a big hospital bed.
 Waiting for a room upstairs
 The littles keeping a close eye on their favorite babe
 I love this picture of my boys. Both of them are worn out, resting and have their arms covering their eyes.
 Still Day 1/Night 1 upstairs in our room. Eric had been working out of state and was driving in, so Jenni and Joshua were still with Jackson and me.

 The end of our first day. Jackson was in isolation so the littles had to have masks on when they left his room to get dinner. Thumbs up for cool masks and a great hospital staff.
 Sweet Jenni staying in touch with her littlest love through FaceTime.

 A few days into our stay the littles came for a visit with E. They peeked in at Jackson and then we went downstairs to build him his very own Build-a-Bear.



 A week in and sharing a smile. Thankful!


 Day 6 he went without additional oxygen and did well for a few hours and then had to be put back on it.


Day 8 and Released!

Timeline
Monday, January 21 - Jackson had pink eye and had a well baby check-up. All is well minus the eye infection. Later that day, he develops a fever.

Tuesday, January 22 - Still has a fever and takes several naps throughout the day.

Wednesday, January 23 - Fever hits 102. Take him into a pediatric urgent care that evening. Checks oxygen level and tests for RSV and the flu which end up being negative. Doctor says he has a terrible upper respiratory infection. Told to suction his nose and mouth and keep him on Tylenol.

Thursday, January 24 - Slept and nursed well throughout the night. Cough had gotten worse.

Friday, January 25 - Except for being nursed, Jackson stayed in bed until 2:15 in the afternoon. Totally unheard of. I think, at the time, that the sleep means he's getting better. Later that evening his fever is back to 103. I called the nurses line at his pediatricians office and they agree that something more than an upper respiratory infection is going on. Doctor appoint schedule for the next morning.

Saturday, January 26 - I meet with the on-call doctor, she thinks he may have pneumonia. We are sent to the children's hospital for a scan. We went to the ER, they were waiting for us and saw us immediately. Jackson was being checked by the staff when his oxygen level was at 60% (should be 99-100%). They rushed him into a different ER room and hooked him up to several machines. He had many breathing treatments done - none helped, and was put on oxygen and an IV. He had a chest x-ray done for pneumonia, as well as tested for flu, RSV, and pertussis. Jackson is not very responsive but is able to rest peacefully.

Sunday, January 27 - For the most part, Jackson slept nicely through the night. He had a handful of coughing attacks that we would sit him up for. Nurses say the coughing is a good thing as it is helping his lungs clear. He hasn't showed any interest in being fed while in his crib but once I get him out to hold him he will nurse. We find that his pertussis results are negative. Thankful! Today Jackson opened his eyes when I was holding him and almost able to hold my finger. Thankful for his responsiveness. Throughout the day he has periods of restful sleep and periods of sadness and discomfort. Doctor thinks Jackson got a virus on top of another virus. He is in isolation and only myself and the staff can be with him. The nurses increased his oxygen level so that he is able to rest more comfortably.

Monday, January 28 - Jackson had a really rough and miserable night with many many coughing attacks and subsequent sunctioning of his nose and mouth. The sunctioning wears him out so he falls asleep quickly afterward. His nurse isn't in a rush to lower his oxygen today since he just can't handle it so they are focusing on him resting and staying hydrated. Eric and the littles visit the hospital and we build our babe a bear. I have lunch with Jenni and Joshua before they head back home. While I was able to continue nursing Jackson throughout the whole hospital stay, they put Jackson on an IV in the ER to make sure he stayed hydrated. He was taken off the IV this afternoon.

Tuesday, January 29 - Jackson continues to receive breathing treatments and chest physical therapy. His lungs remain "tight" and he's coughing more. Today, Jackson smiled for the first time since he became ill. Thankful! Throughout the day Jackson continues breathing better and the nurses decrease the oxygen levels. He is able to continue nursing about every two hours but because of his short nursing spans, Jackson is put back on an IV so he does not get dehydrated.

Wednesday, January 30 - Jackson spent the night having coughing fits and was given some medicine to help the pain. His breathing is hard and fast and he does not nurse well. He continues having chest physical therapy throughout the day. Jackson enjoys cuddling.

Thursday, January 31 - The morning starts of well with the nurse lowering his oxygen level again and Jackson handling it well. Later, the nurses try to transition him off the oxygen to see how he responds. Once he is off the oxygen Jackson starts playing with his toes and small toys. After a couple of hours his oxygenation level keeps dipping below the cutoff so he is put back on oxygen. Jackson's able to rest again and falls asleep snoring.

Friday, February 1 - Another hard night of breathing and coughing. He was given pain medicine in the middle of the night after making very sad whimpering sounds. Chest physical therapy continues as well as suctioning his nose and mouth. His oxygen is lowered by a quarter liter every couple of hours until he is off of it again. The doctor checks him over and his lungs sound better. If he is able to go twenty four hours without an IV or oxygen, we will go home tomorrow.

Saturday, February 2 - His respiratory looks good and Jackson's breathing continues on the right track. Nurses continue checking his oxygenation levels and his diapers to make sure he is hydrated enough. After twenty four hours of good health, Eric and the littles come to pick us up and we return home as a family!

While Jackson and I were at the hospital, Eric took off from work to be with the two littles. Jenni and Joshua loved having "Daddy time" and spent a majority of their days coloring with him (literally for hours), taking walks to the park, and trips to the grocery store. They ended their evenings with a FaceTime call with me and Baby J and sent us pictures and videos of the fun they had together at home...

 Lots of coloring :)

Jenni teaching Joshua to spell "yes" and "no" :)

Jenni teaching Joshua to count by tens :)

Joshua trying to spell (with some help from big sister) :)

"We love a Jackson" song :)

"We love a Mommy" song :)

Joshua eating "delicious!" dessert :)

Joshua singing his own version of a "Me love a Jackson" song :)

A huge thank you to our family, friends and church for all their prayers for our little babe!